Source code for envisage.i_plugin

# (C) Copyright 2007-2023 Enthought, Inc., Austin, TX
# All rights reserved.
#
# This software is provided without warranty under the terms of the BSD
# license included in LICENSE.txt and may be redistributed only under
# the conditions described in the aforementioned license. The license
# is also available online at http://www.enthought.com/licenses/BSD.txt
#
# Thanks for using Enthought open source!
""" The plugin interface. """


# Enthought library imports.
from traits.api import Instance, Interface, Str

# Local imports.
from .i_plugin_activator import IPluginActivator


class IPlugin(Interface):
    """The plugin interface."""

    #: The activator used to start and stop the plugin.
    activator = Instance(IPluginActivator)

    #: The application that the plugin is part of.
    application = Instance("envisage.api.IApplication")

    #: The name of a directory (created for you) that the plugin can read and
    #: write to at will.
    home = Str

    #: The plugin's unique identifier.
    #:
    #: Where 'unique' technically means 'unique within the plugin manager', but
    #: since the chances are that you will want to include plugins from
    #: external sources, this really means 'globally unique'! Using the Python
    #: package path might be useful here. e.g. 'envisage'.
    id = Str

    #: The plugin's name (suitable for displaying to the user).
    name = Str

    def start(self):
        """Start the plugin.

        This method is called by the framework when the application is starting
        up. If you want to start a plugin manually use::

          application.start_plugin(plugin)

        """

    def stop(self):
        """Stop the plugin.

        This method is called by the framework when the application is
        stopping. If you want to stop a plugin manually use::

          application.stop_plugin(plugin)

        """